#localscissors

“Yeah! I was just about your age when I first tried. Switch me seats.”

And before Dewey could even process the demand or the implications, Dewey was in the pilot’s seat with both hands on the steering wheel.

Anxiety filled Dewey immediately, freezing his limbs in place and securing the throttle in white-knuckled grip. It was all he could do to keep a smile plastered on his face, because Dewey de Spell always did what Magica wanted no matter how impossible it seemed. And Della was still watching, still smiling. He wanted her to like him, and this is how you earned love.

“You’re doing great,” Della encouraged. “Just keep flying it straight, you’re doing fine.”

Dewey didn’t trust himself to answer right away, knowing his voice would betray his anxiousness, but as he flew further and nothing happened, he was able to gain some confidence back. “Hey… I’m doing it!”

“You mean you’re Dewey-ing it! That’s my son!”

Dewey’s fake grin turned into a real one, and he drove the plane a little faster. Maybe he could get them there faster than any pilot before. Maybe Della would be so impressed that she would take him on all her adventures. He would suffer through that anxiety again and again if it meant being liked.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a snowy peak rose from the clouds and filled the windshiled’s view. Dewey screamed and yanked on the throttle in a random direction. They were gonna crash right into it!

Della was over him in an instant, simultaneously shielding him and jerking the throttle up. The peak scraped the bottom of the plane. The sound of grinding metal and roaring engine filled Dewey’s ears as he braced against Della for impact.

The plane didn’t really crash, but tilted and slid down the mountain side. There was a brief sensation of weightlessness, like a drop on a roller coaster, before slowing at the bottom of the slope.

Dewey breathed a sigh of relief and realized that he was still hugging Della, and she was hugging him back. She pulled away slightly to check him over. “Are you okay hon?”

“Y-yeah.”

“What the blazes was that?!” Scrooge shouted from the back of the plain, hobbling over with his cane. “I leave yeh alone for five minutes and you two crash the plane on the side of the mountain!”

“Oh, stop your whining old man, Launchpad crashes this thing all the time. Besides, we’ve got more important matters. Dewey flew for his very first time!!”

“Guessing he crashed it too,” Scrooge grumbled, then eyed Dewey with a certain humor. “Must’ve been quite thrilling though, wasn’t it lad? Suppose you haven’t been in a plane before?”

Dewey mutely shook his head, feeling strangely detached as he watched their body languages closely. He expected them to start screaming any moment now, and was mentally preparing for any outcome. But neither of them seemed really angry. Scrooge was irritated for sure, but not… not enraged.

“I’m sorry?” Dewey apologized belatedly, his guilt and fear being overridden by apprehension and confusion. Why didn’t they seem angry?

Scrooge nodded, accepting the apology, but looked more irritated at Della. “It’s Della who should be sorry! What were ye thinking, lass? Letting some child steer by himself!”

“He’s not some child, he’s my kid. And I was watching him the whole time!”

“You flew into a mountain!”

“He flew into a mountain, and did a marvelous job of it. This kiddo is a natural.”

They continued to bicker, but surprisingly not at him. He didn’t know what to do or how to react, so he just backed away slowly.

The side emergency door had popped open. It was easy to hop out and roll down the snow like a ball. By the time he made it to the front of the plane and saw the damage he caused, Della was there beside him. Dewey Hid his face and moaned. “Oh No, ooh no…. mom, I’m so sorry. Please don’t kill me! I didn’t mean to—“

“Aw, don’t worry, just a little dented nose and torn bottom. We’ll get it fixed before nightfall. But are you okay? You look kinda shaken. I don’t see any physical injuries…” She was fiddling with her scarf, looking unsure. If Dewey was a mind reader, he would’ve known she was worried about him, worried that the crash scared him, wondering how a normal mom would comfort her son and whether she should’ve checked him more closely earlier instead of arguing with Scrooge.

But he wasn’t a mind reader, and took her anxiousness as disappointment. She was probably regretting bringing him along at all. Huey would’ve never crashed the plane, and even if he did Huey would still be focused on the goal.

If Della and Scrooge weren’t worried about the plane, then he wouldn’t be either. He’ll prove that he can be just as good as any of his brothers and make up for the destruction he caused.

Dewey laughed. “Are you kidding me? That’s how I Dewey-it! One little crash can’t bring me down. Where’s the cave?”

Della, relieved that she hadn’t scarred her child for life, grinned and pointed. “Just over that hill!”

The anxiety followed him like a shadow all the way to the cave.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Webby knew a secret back entrance to the Money Bin. She explained, “Uncle Scrooge says if there’s ever trouble in the mansion, to come through here. He even gave me a special key.” She showed it to them, grinning. She wore the key around her neck just like how Huey wore his amulet. Louie grinned back. Webby was way too trusting.

The vault was guarded by a giant steel door, with a lock too big for the brothers to twist. Webby helped them push it open, grunting with exertion.

And finally, they were inside. Louie couldn’t contain his squeal at the expanse of gold that piled beneath the initial platform.

“Ha! I knew it! I knew he swims in here!” Louie ran to the diving board and prepared himself for a jump, but Huey caught the end of his hoodie.

“Nope, not for you. You’ll smash yourself on that metal,” he warned.

“He’s right,” said Webby. “It took Scrooge months to build up the necessary muscles to dive into it.” She led them to the end of the platform and gestured to the golden mountains. “So, this is it! Uncle Scrooge’s treasures.”

Huey peeked over the edge, holding tight to Louie to make sure his brother didn’t jump or fall. Louie could see his brother’s expression go from hopeful to exhausted in a matter of seconds.

“I never expected there to be so much…” Huey whispered. “There’s no way we can look through all of that.”

“Well, we don’t need to!” Webby said cheerfully. “I’ll take you down and show you all the important stuff. C’mon!”

She slipped over the edge on a ladder that Louie didn't see and started to climb down. Huey just continued staring. Louie had to push him to get moving. When they reached the bottom, Huey sat down and picked at a random coin, looking lost. Louie experimentally dug a toe beneath the top layer of coins, and it shifted to reveal even more underneath. “How deep is this?”

“Deeper than the pool!” Webby answered. “My Granny can’t even touch the bottom.

Louie would’ve been excited if it weren’t for how his older brother was acting. He looked like a boy on his deathbed; pale and emotionless and not at all like himself. Louie had a pretty good idea of what the problem might be, but he couldn’t ask it out loud. He let Webby show him some of her favorite artifacts before yawning loudly and checking the time.

“Oof, all this excitement tired us out. We should head back soon.”

Webby deflated. “Aw, so soon? But we just got here.”

“Believe me, I know. Nobody likes treasure more than me, but I think having our dreams fulfilled so quickly broke Huey’s brain.”

Webby looked at Huey, who was half-heartedly sorting coins into organized piles before ultimately sighing and collapsing on his back. “There’s so much,” he moaned.”

Webby snickered. “I understand. That was pretty much my reaction when I first saw this place too. I’ll take you guys back. Granny will be wondering where I am anyway.” She ran toward the ladder and Louie helped his older brother off the floor, leaving his two miserable piles behind. It was a long walk back to the mansion, but Louie kept Webby busy with questions about Scrooge’s adventures. Somewhere along the line, he was able to ask, “So if all of Scrooge’s treasures are in there, does he keep his dime there too?”

Webby deflated a bit. “His number one dime? No, he doesn’t. Nobody knows where he hides it. He doesn’t tell me.”

Louie nodded and thanked her before she departed, leaving them alone in their room. Louie approached his brother cautiously, able to talk freely now. “Hey bro, are you okay?”

Huey rubbed his eyes and shook his head, sliding down to the floor. He brought his knees up and hid his face in them. “How are we ever supposed to find the dime, Louie?”

Louie winced, unsure how to comfort his older brother. He looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown. He wished Dewey was here, Dewey so much better at encouraging pep talks. “Well, at least we know it’s not in the Money Bin! That crosses one thing off our list.”

Huey threw his hands up. “That’s the thing! We don’t even know for sure that it’s not in there! Nobody knows! Not even Webby.”

Louie bit his lip and sat beside his brother. “We’ll figure it out.”

“How!? We wasted the whole day! I didn’t even try to look. I just got there and sat. I kept telling myself that I should look harder, but there was just so much, and it was so deep. We could search there for a hundred years and never find it.” Huey huffed, staring at nothing. “And what if it’s not there? This mansion is huge! I just… I don’t even know where to start.”

Before Louie could fail again at offering comfort, Dewey burst through the door, grinning like he won the lottery. “Bros! I’ve just had the most awesome day. Della said she loved me and I flew a plane! Well, crashed it, but Mom says that she crashed a million planes while she was learning. And she wasn’t even mad at me for it! It was awesome! And—“ he cut off, seeing Louie’s harsh glare and Huey’s despondent position. “Ooh, and you did not have an awesome day, did you?”

Before they could respond, there was a glow from under Huey’s shirt and all the brothers jumped back. Huey fumbled for his collar and Dewey slammed the door shut.

“Have you found the dime?”

Huey yelped in shock and jerked the necklace out. “Ah! Uh, Aunt Magica! We weren't expecting you so soon—!”

Magica cut him off. “And I was expecting results sooner. My patience grows incredibly thin. The eclipse is fast approaching, and still nothing!”

Huey winced and covered his face with his hands, mentally beating himself up for not looking harder. “I know, I’m sorry. We—”

“—We did a whole TON of stuff today!” Dewey interrupted, glaring at the amulet. He was still riding high off Della’s praise and wasn’t in the mood for his Aunt’s verbal abuse toward his brothers. “Della trusts us completely and I actually got Scrooge to warm up to me too.”

“I wasn’t asking your opinion, Dewford, I was asking Huey. And where’s Llewelyn? Is he hiding from me?”

Louie sunk back. She must be in a terrible mood if she was asking for him. “No, I’m right here Aunt Magica.”

“Oh? Surprise, surprise, he can still speak. And what did you do that was so important, other than ride on your brothers’ coattails?”

“He wasn’t riding,” Huey defended meekly. “He helped me search Scrooge’s Money Bin.”

“But you didn’t find a thing, did you?”

Huey wilted, head lowering in shame. “No, we didn’t.”

Ingrates,” Magica growled. “Who’s to blame for this?”

A beat of silence as all the brothers looked at each other. Finally, Huey sighed. “Mine. It was mine. There were too many coins to look through.”

Magica scoffed. “Peasants’ work. This is why I taught you fools magic. Wasn’t Dewey there with you?”

“Um, of c-course! Of course he was there, I mean. Definitely.” Huey pulled on his collared shirt, hoping she would buy the lie. “We just didn’t know any specific spells for finding… dimes.”

“All that reading and you still don’t know a thing.” She sighed deeply, as if the three were incompetent burdens she was forced to bear. “I guess I will just have to prepare something for you, if you can’t do it yourselves. I’ve got an artifact that will be most… disruptive.” Magica chuckled darkly, which soon became manic laughter. The triplets relaxed slightly. Evil laughter meant that her attention was on her own schemes and not on them. When the cackling finally stopped, her voice was back to demanding. “Expect a package soon. I’ll message you when it’s time to pick it up. And boys? You’re running out of chances. Don’t mess this one up.”

The amulet went dark, and Huey tucked it back under his shirt. He looked exhausted as he rubbed a hand over his face. Even though she wasn’t listening anymore, he still answered. “We won't mess this up. I’ll make sure of it.”